A Guide to Upstate New York’s Hidden Gems With Jewelry Designer Lizzie Fortunato

Hotel TivoliThe Hotel Tivoli and its farm-to-table restaurant, the Corner, are owned by the artists Brice and Helen Marden. It’s filled with their incredible collection of quirky furniture and fine art. An upscale marble bar and elevated menu makes this one of the most sophisticated and chic watering holes upstate. I love this cool little reading nook in the hotel.

Photo: Courtesy of Lizzie Fortunato and Kathryn Fortunato

New Yorkers looking for an escape from the city flock upstate for the fresh air, antiquing, charming B&Bs, and spot-on farm-to-table dining establishments. And perhaps no New Yorker is more entranced by the rural getaway than Elizabeth Fortunato—half of the design duo behind the jewelry and accessories brand Lizzie Fortunato—who sees it as her place to unwind from the demands of the fashion industry. “I spend a lot of time on the east and west sides of the Hudson, and have a routine of escaping there just after New York Fashion Week,” she says. She enjoys perusing antiques, eating comfort food everywhere from Livingston Manor to Phoenicia, hiking, and jumping in swimming holes at Harriman State Park. “Upstate is my anti-fashion week,” she says. “It’s the perfect antidote to late nights and lots of work in the city.” Here, Fortunato’s favorite places just up the Hudson River from NYC.

One of my all-time favorite restaurants upstate is Mercato. The chef hails from Rome and cooked in the city before moving and opening his Italian restaurant in Red Hook, New York. The pasta is made in-house, and the ingredients are all incredibly fresh.

This is a must-stop in Livingston Manor before arriving to your AirBnB or the trailhead. Don’t leave without trying the Beaverkill sandwich made from local smoked trout, vegan mayo, sea salt, organic black pepper, and local greens on house-baked ciabatta.

The atmosphere at Gaskins Restaurant in Germantown is definitely one of the very best. It’s run by a couple who put time in at Diner, Marlow & Sons, Romans, and Gramercy Tavern in Brooklyn and Manhattan. They serve the most amazing food, sourced from nearby farms, of course!

Photo: Courtesy of Gaskins

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Country Cream

A nostalgic, side-of-the-road ice cream parlor that I always make my boyfriend pull over to in Masonville. Here, I’m sampling one of their 52 flavors.

My perfect breakfast at Table on Ten in Bloomville. This is among my most treasured upstate destinations because it is a community gathering place—a restaurant (boasting a wood-burning pizza oven), a shop (where I pick up black sea salt, woven hand towels, and Frankies 457 olive oil), and a three-room hotel. The decor is perfect with handmade wooden beds and claw-foot tubs, and the stay there is so peaceful out in the western Catskills.

Photo: Courtesy of Lizzie Fortunato and Kathryn Fortunato

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You can hike the area around Table on Ten, and this is the view out the back door.

The Hotel Tivoli and its farm-to-table restaurant, the Corner, are owned by the artists Brice and Helen Marden. It’s filled with their incredible collection of quirky furniture and fine art. An upscale marble bar and elevated menu makes this one of the most sophisticated and chic watering holes upstate. I love this cool little reading nook in the hotel.